TRAIN ACCIDENT.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19644, 13 June 1929, Page 13

TRAIN ACCIDENT.

j HOW IT HAPPENED. i t I RAILWAY OFFICIALS EXPLAIN. i i I People, who travelled up from the | south by the second express on Tues- | day are speculating &o to what their chancre would have been if th« con- ! necting rods on the engine had 1 snapped on the Rakaia bridge. It is j no exaggeration to say that a disaster | unparalleled in the railway history of ; Ntw Zealai,« would have occurred, for j nothing could have caved the train i from derailment, iiad either of the i driving rods hit aa obstruction, it is I almost certain that tho engine would j have been derailed, and. as the tram | was travelling at a fast speed, nothing j could have stopped the carriages telei scoping en to the engine, with probi able loss of life and injury to many. | A reporter who called yesterday on ■Mr J. Binsted, the newly-appointed i Locomotive Engineer for the South I Island, found him preparing for eubi mission to head office plans of the breakages. \h- wa* travelling u> j Dunedin yesterday when he heard of ; the accident, and immediately left the j train From an inspection of the i damaged engine, he said, it appeared j that the strap on the leading siae rod 1 on the left-hand side of the locomotive | had carried away, and the other exi tensive damage had followed as a rei suit. Due to this failure, the remain- ; der of the side rods had suffered. All j of the broken parts had not yet been j found. They were probably distrij buted along' the line, as usually happened m mishaps such as this. Tne train was travelling at 50 miles per hour, the ordinary pace on such an occasion, said Mr" Binsted. Mechanical failures of this type were infrequent. A rigid inspection of the locomotives was made, every day, and | sometimes twice a day, by the drivers. | but it was difficult to detect some of these failures. Tho engines -were also inspected periodicallv by a specie! I staff. . ... I It is probable that an enquiry will j be held as a result of the accident.

Goods Trains Delayed. Goods trains delayed by tho mishap were as follows : —Through train to Jnvercargill, 2 hours. 40 m.uutos; morning train to Askburton, about 3 hours; evening goods train iiojo A.Bll- - to Middleton, about 4 hours SO minutes. No passenger trains were delayed. Driver W. Timms was rir.H apprised of the breakage by the perilous rocking of the engine, and found the loose rods throwing up showers of shingle. . The ferry steamer Maori sailed for Wellington at 2.35 a.m., and after a very fast run reached Wellington at midday yesterday. Railway officials made a statement to representatives of the Press yesterday regarding the accident. Although the passengers suffered a good deal of delay and some discomfort through the accidents which happened to the train, they said, every effort possible was made by the trainrunning officers of the Railway Department to minimise the trouble. When the first mishap occurred at Hook, as was the case on occasions such as this, the first engine available was dispatched, and in this case, the only locomotive available was not ot the express type. "The train left Makikihi 2 hours lo minutes late," said an official in giving details of the chapter of accidents. "Part of this delay was due to the fact that the engine which had broken down had to be disconnected and prepared so that it would be possible to tow it to Makikihi. The run from Makikihi was made on schedule time and the train left Ashburton 2 hours 10 minutes late." Dismantling the Engine. It was anticipated in C'hristchurcb that the mishap would be rectified by the driver in a reasonable time, and tools were sent down from Burnham to enable this to be done. It was found, however, that the massive driving rods, which are several feet long and are six inches broad by one inch and a half deep, had become bent and twisted, one of them being wound around the bolts which held it to the wheels.

Considerable difficulty was experienced by the locomotive men in dismantling the engine, which could not be moved either way. The crew ol the relief engine, which was standing by, and the driver and fireman of tho express engine, did their best, but they could not give any accurate indication as to how long it would take them to clear the engine. The Christchurch train-running otnee was watching the situation continuously, and a motor-car was requisitioned at Burnham to convey messages from the disabled train to the telephone at Burnham. When advice was received from the train that the clearing of the obstruction would take longer than was anticipated, a relief train of nine carriages was dispatched to the scene of the mishap. . While the relief train was being got ready to leave Christchurch, a motorlorry was sent down from Burnham to the "stranded train, and all the luggage and moils were brought on to Burnham. A big staff of porters was sent down and these steps resulted in the delay being minimised as much as possible. . , The disabled tram was finally cleared at 3.15 yesterday morning, and was hauled into Christchurch. ✓